1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drum washing machine adapted to wash clothes, and more particularly to a spray type drum washing machine capable of atomizing wash water contained in a tub, and spraying the atomized wash water into a drum, thereby achieving an enhancement in washing performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Drum washing machines are generally adapted to wash laundry contained in a drum, such as clothes or bedding, through wash, rinse, and spin-dry cycles, in order to remove contaminants attached to the laundry in accordance with the action of wash water contained in a tub.
FIG. 1 is a partially-broken perspective view illustrating a conventional drum washing machine. FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the conventional drum washing machine.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional drum washing machine includes a base 1, and a cabinet 2 installed on the base 1 while defining the appearance of the washing machine. The cabinet 2 is provided with an access opening 2a for loading and unloading of clothes m. The conventional drum washing machine also includes a door 4 hingably mounted to a front wall of the cabinet 2, and adapted to open and close the access opening 2a, a tub 6 mounted in the cabinet 2 while being supported by a damper, a water supply unit 10 adapted to supply wash water w into the tub 6, a drainage unit 12 adapted to drain the wash water w from the tub 2 to the outside of the cabinet 2, a drum 20 rotatably mounted in the tub 6, and adapted to contain clothes therein, and a drum motor 30 adapted to rotate the drum 20.
The tub 6 is provided with an access opening 7 arranged in rear of the access opening 2a of the cabinet 2 to allow the user to put clothes m into the drum 20 and to take the clothes out of the drum 20.
The drum 20 is also provided with an access opening 21 arranged in rear of the access opening 2a of the cabinet 2 to allow the user to put clothes m into the drum 20 and to take the clothes out of the drum 20. The drum 20 is arranged such that a bottom portion thereof is dipped in wash water contained in the tub 6. The drum 20 is also formed with a plurality of water holes 22 at peripheral and rear walls thereof to allow wash water to flow between the tub 6 and the drum 20.
Lifters 26 are mounted to an inner peripheral surface of the drum 20. The lifters 26 serve to raise clothes contained in the drum 20 to the top of the drum 20, and then to release the clothes, thereby allowing the clothes to be dropped due to gravity.
The drum motor 30 is mounted to a rear wall of the tub 6 at the outside of the tub 6. The drum motor 30 has a rotating shaft 32 extending horizontally or approximately horizontally through a central portion of the rear wall of the tub 6 into the drum 20. The rotating shaft 32 is connected to a central portion of a rear wall of the drum 20.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 48 designates a gasket mounted to the tub 6, and adapted to prevent leakage of wash water between the access openings of the door 4 and tub 6 in a closed state of the door 4.
Operation of the conventional drum washing machine having the above described configuration will now be described.
When the drum washing machine is operated under the condition in which the door 4 has been closed after clothes m have been put into the drum 20, wash water is supplied into the tub 6 in accordance with operation of the water supply unit 10, so that it is contained in a bottom portion of the tub 6. In this state, the bottom portion of the drum 20 is also dipped in the wash water as the wash water is introduced into the drum 20 through the water holes 22. As a result, the clothes in the drum 20 are wetted by the wash water.
Thereafter, the motor 30 is driven to rotate the drum 20. Thus, the clothes m contained in the drum 20 are repeatedly raised and dropped in the drum 20. As a result, stains are removed from the clothes m in accordance with the frictional action of the wash water and the inner surface of the drum 20.
After completion of this wash cycle, the wash water existing in the water tub 10 in a contaminated state is externally drained from the drum washing machine through the drainage unit 12.
Subsequently, the drum washing machine performs, several times, a rinse cycle for rinsing the washed clothes m to remove bubbles remaining on the clothes m. In this rinse cycle, wash water is supplied into the tub 6 by the water supply unit 10. Thereafter, the drum motor 30 is driven to rotate the drum 20, thereby causing the clothes m contained in the drum 20 to be repeatedly raised and dropped in the drum 20. As a result, bubbles are removed from the clothes m.
The contaminated wash water containing the removed bubbles is externally drained from the washing machine through the drainage unit 12.
After performing the rinse cycle several times, the washing machine performs a spin-dry cycle to remove moisture form the clothes m.
That is, when the drum motor 30 rotates the drum 20 at high speed, moisture permeated into the clothes m is centrifugally removed from the clothes m, and then collected in the tub 6 after being discharged from the drum 20 through the water holes 22. Finally, the collected moisture is externally drained through the drainage unit 12.
In the above mentioned conventional drum washing machine, however, there is a problem in that the clothes put into the drum 20 are simply naturally wetted by wash water supplied into the drum 20 or contained in the tub 6. That is, detergent supplied into the drum 20 is insufficiently dissolved in the wash water. Also, the speed, at which wash water permeates the clothes, is low.
Furthermore, although washing of clothes is carried out in the conventional drum washing machine, using wash water contained in the tub 6, a part of the wash water contained in the tub 6 may be insufficiently used in the clothes washing process. In order to obtain sufficient washing performance, it is necessary to use a large amount of wash water.